Reacting, the management of
Keystone Bank explained its position on the issue.

Keystone Bank noted: “In response
to the news making the rounds that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had
made an order directing Keystone Bank Limited to remit the sum of $17m
allegedly illegally kept in its custody to the TSA, we wish to state that
Keystone Bank has never illegally hidden any amount of money belonging to the
Federal Government or any of its agencies.

“Details of all Federal
Government funds in custody of Keystone Bank had always been fully disclosed to
all relevant Federal Government agencies and at no time did Keystone Bank
collude or ‎conspire with any official of the Federal Government to disobey the
Federal Government directives on the TSA”.

The lender informed its
stakeholders that it would not conduct itself in breach of the laws or policies
of the government, including the TSA policy.

“We are taking appropriate steps
to respond to the issues raised in the Court Order”, the bank added.

Similarly, Fidelity Bank Plc has
denied any wrongdoing.

Charles Aigbe, Divisional Head,
Brand and Communications at the bank, said since the commencement of the TSA
policy, all TSA related accounts held by the bank were fully disclosed to the
authorities.

“We do not have any TSA related
account with a balance of $24.5m in Fidelity Bank which has not been remitted
to the authorities,” Aigbe said in a statement.

“This matter is coming to us as a
surprise. We are therefore reaching out to the Office of the Attorney-General
of the Federation to ascertain which account or parastatal they are referring
to with a view to carrying out a detailed reconciliation.”

Bola Atta, UBA Group Head,
Marketing & Corporate Communications, in a statement insisted that the bank
was not owing.

It reads “Our attention has been
drawn to the order of the Federal High Court in Lagos directing that seven (7)
commercial banks, including UBA Plc, temporarily remit a total of $793,200,000
allegedly hidden in contravention of the Federal Government’s Treasury Single
Account policy pending the determination of the suit filed by the Attorney
General of the Federation on behalf of the Federal Government.

“We wish to state categorically
that UBA has fully remitted all NNPC/NLNG dollar deposits since August 24,
2016. We hereby emphasise that none of such funds are currently in the Bank’s
books. Our action was further corroborated by a clearance memo published by CBN
on its website on same date
(http://www.cbn.gov.ng/Out/2016/CCD/UBAPress%20Statement240816.pdf).”